Ahead of the Extraordinary Full Council Meeting on proposed school closures taking place today (Wednesday, 29th January) a letter has been sent to all Isle of Wight councillors from leaders of five education unions.
The letter, sent on behalf of Duncan Morrison, Branch Secretary, Isle of Wight NEU; Mark Chiverton, Branch Secretary, UNISON Isle of Wight Local Government; Mark Dickinson, Junior Vice President, NASUWT; Elizabeth Salisbury, NAHT, Regional Head, South Central and
Liam Cumming, Branch Secretary, GMB Isle of Wight can be read below.
Shreeve: Consider the views, wishes and experiences of all children and young people
Commenting on the letter, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, told OnTheWight,
“The letter highlights concerns from the five education unions. The five unions cite examples and maintain the ‘initial consultation and the report put to Cabinet based on that consultation are flawed and open to legal challenge’.
“After listening carefully to parents, pupils, staff and the authorities for many months, we are understandably concerned about the consequences of so many closures and the potential effects on so many children, staff and communities.
“In summary, the letter asks councillors ‘to vote to review the current plans to ensure that schools are properly resourced and that all children on the Island receive the best possible quality of education’.
“We also ask that you especially consider the views, wishes and experiences of all children and young people, where the impact will be the greatest. At a time when mental health issues dominate society, we must value and support.”
Letter sent to councillors: Tuesday, 28th January 2025
We are writing to you ahead of the Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council on Wednesday, 29th January, 2025 which is to discuss school place planning. We are the representatives of all school based unions, and in our roles represent thousands of school workers on the Island. We also represent hundreds whose jobs are under threat. The widespread concern amongst across the Island community was clearly demonstrated by our well-attended rally in Newport last Saturday.
We believe that the selecting of the schools, the initial consultation and the report put to Cabinet based on that consultation are flawed and open to legal challenge. We call on you to do everything in your power to ensure the Council does not make such a cataclysmic decision, (affecting thousands of children’s live, making hundreds of staff redundant and damaging, perhaps irrevocably, five communities on the Island) on the basis of an erroneous process.
In terms of the initial selection of schools to consult on, and despite the consultation being declared a whole Island process, the report and all the presentations are based on planning areas. The criterion are unequally applied across the different planning areas. The selection seems to have been made with half a mind to the future use of the site and, for some, with reference to the Ofsted grading. This is entirely inappropriate and the Council subsequently had to row back from comments on the sites’ potential use. At the start of the process our members were assured by Councillor Bacon that academies were included in the process but it subsequently became clear they could not be, as the Council does not have the ability to close academies. Councillors were assured, again by Councillor Bacon, that the Diocese were fully involved, but it is clear they were not. Most damningly of all there are no minutes of the meeting that made the decision.
Once the report of the officers was issued it was extraordinarily poor. It codified all the errors outlined above and added its own additional errors. We believe that much of the data was simply wrong. It contained arguments for the closure of some schools based on them being merged with others, an option that the same report was ruling out. The report didn’t even seem to appreciate how Primary schools operate, arguing that ‘Teachers may be required to teach a wide range of subjects’. However, in reality all Primary teachers, teach all subjects!
Given all of this we are asking you to vote to review the current plans to ensure that schools are properly resourced and that all children on the Island receive the best possible quality of education. The decision is too important to be made on the basis of this irreparably flawed process and report.
You must clearly vote as your conscience dictates. However, whenever the local elections are held, we will obviously campaign to ensure that education is a central issue and, in those circumstances, the record of how councillors have voted on the current issue is certain to be remembered by the electorate.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Morrison, Branch Secretary, Isle of Wight NEU
Mark Chiverton, Branch Secretary, UNISON Isle of Wight Local Government
Mark Dickinson, Junior Vice President, NASUWT
Elizabeth Salisbury, NAHT, Regional Head, South Central
Liam Cumming, Branch Secretary, GMB Isle of Wight
